Eduardo Camavinga

Eduardo Celmi Camavinga (born 10 November 2002) is a professional footballer who plays for La Liga club Real Madrid and the France national team. A versatile player, his usual positions are central or defensive midfielder and left-back.

Camavinga began his career in Ligue 1 with Rennes, making his senior debut at the age of 16, and quickly established himself as a regular first-team player. In 2021, he signed for Real Madrid for a fee of €31 million, winning a La Liga and UEFA Champions League double in his first season.

Born in Angola with Angolan and Congolese descent, Camavinga moved to France at a young age, eventually representing the country at under-21 level. He made his first senior appearance for the France national team in 2020 at the age of 17, becoming the nation's youngest debutant in over a century. He was part of the French squad that finished runners-up at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Early life

Camavinga was born in a refugee camp in Cabinda, Angola in 2002. His parents, Celestino Camavinga (a Portuguese-speaking Angolan-Congolese born in Cabinda) and Sofia Simão (also born in Cabinda), had fled the civil war in DR Congo before his birth to a refugee camp in Miconge. He has five siblings. His family moved to France when he was two. They eventually settled in Fougères, where he grew up. He did judo for a time before giving it up to focus solely on football. In 2013, the Camavingas' house was burnt down, destroying most of the family's property. Camavinga stated that this was a source of motivation that pushed him to pursue a career in football and help his family.

On 7 July 2020, he obtained the Baccalauréat ES (Economic and Social) without mention.

Club career

Rennes

Camavinga joined Rennes' youth system when he was 11. He signed his first professional contract on 14 December 2018, at the age of 16 years and one month, becoming the youngest ever professional for the club at that time. He made his professional debut for Rennes in a 3–3 Ligue 1 tie with Angers on 6 April 2019, becoming the youngest player to ever play for Rennes' first team, at 16 years and six months old.

On 18 August 2019, Camavinga recorded an assist and was awarded the man of the match award in a 2–1 win against Paris Saint-Germain. Hence, he became the youngest player to make an assist in Ligue 1, aged 16 years and 281 days. He then won the UNFP Player of the Month award that month, to be the youngest player to achieve this feat. He scored his first goal for Rennes in a 1–0 win against Lyon on 15 December 2019, in the 89th minute of the game.

In the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, he featured in four matches for Rennes against Krasnodar, Chelsea and Sevilla.

Real Madrid

On 31 August 2021, Real Madrid announced the signing of Camavinga until 30 June 2027. He made his debut in a 5–2 win over Celta Vigo on 12 September, in which he scored a goal shortly after coming off the bench. Three days later, he made his Champions League debut for Real Madrid, coming on as a substitute for Luka Modrić in the 80th minute and assisting Rodrygo for the winner against Inter Milan.

Camavinga made a substitute appearance in the 85th minute of the 2022 UEFA Champions League final on 28 May, helping Real Madrid win 1–0 over Liverpool to earn the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League title with his team. On 9 May 2023, he provided an assist to Vinícius Júnior to take the lead in a 1–1 draw against Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final first leg at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, to be the youngest in the competition's semi-finals to do so, aged 20 years and 180 days.

On 7 November 2023, Real Madrid announced the extension of Camavinga's contract, which is to remain effective until 30 June 2029.

International career

On 31 October 2019, Camavinga obtained French nationality, benefiting from the collective effect connected to the naturalization of his father. Until then, Camavinga had been a national of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Six days later, he was selected to represent France's under-21 team for games against Georgia and Switzerland, after Matteo Guendouzi was called up to the senior team.

On 27 August 2020, Camavinga was called up to play on France's senior team after Paul Pogba was sidelined by a positive COVID-19 test. He became, in the process, the youngest player to be called up to the French senior team since René Gérard in 1932, who was only 17 years, nine months and 17 days old. On 8 September, he debuted in a 4–2 win against Croatia in the UEFA Nations League, replacing N'Golo Kanté midway through the second half. In doing so he became the youngest player to play for the France national team, following Maurice Gastiger in 1914 at 17 years, nine months, and 29 days old.

On 7 October 2020, Camavinga made his first start for France in a 7–1 win against Ukraine where he scored his first international goal, opening the scoring with an overhead kick. This made him the youngest goalscorer for France since Maurice Gastiger in 1914.

On 25 June 2021, Camavinga was named in Sylvain Ripoll's 18-man France squad for the Summer Olympics in 2021. However he was later removed from the squad after his club, Rennes, objected.

Camavinga played twice at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, in which reigning champions France finished as runners-up in Qatar. He played as a left-back in the final group game, a 1–0 loss to Tunisia in which manager Didier Deschamps rested his regular players ahead of the knockout stage. In the final, he came on after 71 minutes in place of Théo Hernandez as the French were losing 2–0 to Argentina; the game ended 2–2 after 90 minutes, 3–3 after extra time and France lost on penalties.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 1 June 2024

International

As of match played 9 July 2024

As of match played 9 July 2024

Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Camavinga goal.

Honours

Real Madrid

• La Liga: 2021–22, 2023–24
• Copa del Rey: 2022–23
• Supercopa de España: 2022, 2024
• UEFA Champions League: 2021–22, 2023–24
• UEFA Super Cup: 2022
• FIFA Club World Cup: 2022

France

• FIFA World Cup runner-up: 2022

Individual

• UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month: August 2019
• Kopa Trophy runner-up: 2022
• IFFHS Men's Youth (U20) World Team: 2020, 2021, 2022

References

External links

• Profile at the Real Madrid CF website
• Eduardo Camavinga at the French Football Federation (in French)
• Eduardo Camavinga – UEFA competition record (archive)